Water Cooling

Deaco · 10 Jul 2008 at 18:56

Hey all, now I know this is a bit of an iffy subject but what are the pro's and con's of watercooling.

Because from what I've read, most people jump staight to noise as being the biggest pro.

Now don't get me wrong I think a really good WC'd rig looks amazing (not saying a good air cooled one doesn't either), but how much quieter is a WC rig compared to one with say TT or a TRUE? - as you still need 2-3 120mm fans and pumps etc

My biggest worry, is GPU's and the fact the latest lot seem to be getting noiser and if WCing was a way of keeping the noise down for that then brilliant (most of the active aftermarket VGA coolers seem to be beasts and don't look as though they'd be quiet).

So is that where the whole noise thing comes in these days, not with CPU's but the noisy stock GPU's? As from what I've seen it seems you can get just a good OC with Air as Water.

This has probably been asked lots but couldn't see a lot about GPU's, but apologise if there is.

Firestar_3x · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:07

If you have a fanless chipset, a quiet PSU / Quiet case fans / watercooled CPU & GPU the HDD's will get on your nerves

My Raptors sure due, the rest of my rig is silent.

Brizzles · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:17

Watercooling is sexy

/ Thread

WJA96 · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:33

What it's really about is the look on people's faces when you tell them your PC is so powerful, it needs to be water cooled - and then it's about fielding all those questions about electricity and water

Firestar_3x · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:52

Not as good as the look on peoples faces when you that water wasn't cooling your cpu enough and you had to run it at -10 using phase instead

Brizzles · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:56

WJA96 said:
What it's really about is the look on people's faces when you tell them your PC is so powerful, it needs to be water cooled - and then it's about fielding all those questions about electricity and water

Firestar_3x said:
Not as good as the look on peoples faces when you that water wasn't cooling your cpu enough and you had to run it at -10 using phase instead

OK , Watercooling is Sexy and Dangerous

Firestar_3x · 10 Jul 2008 at 19:59

Never had an issue with my setups, i've gone through 6 different watercooling setups now, provided you take your time to rig it all up it won't leak!

However i've burnt out a few CPU's with phase change cooling.

Deaco · 11 Jul 2008 at 11:07

Firestar_3x said:
Never had an issue with my setups, i've gone through 6 different watercooling setups now, provided you take your time to rig it all up it won't leak!

However i've burnt out a few CPU's with phase change cooling.

Heh, so how long is the average life of a WC rig, I mean you read quite a few scary stories of corossion destroying blocks etc, is this just the way it goes, or if you buy top notch kit and maintain it well it should last for years to come?

Firestar_3x · 11 Jul 2008 at 11:45

If you run the correct fluid watch what metals touch in your loop and but good quality kit it should last for a few years.

Flushing the system out once a year and running good quality fluids are they key

Never has a tube burst or a block fail, however a few days back one of my drivebay pumps started making a noise, sounds like the impellar is touching something.

Crashgate3 · 11 Jul 2008 at 12:29

People have mentioned that the HDDs are the noisiest part of a WC rig - how effetive are the HD silencers/coolers that fit in a 5.25" bay?

Things like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...lman ZM-2HC2 Silent Hard Disk Heatpipe Cooler

Monkey Puzzle · 11 Jul 2008 at 12:56

Watercooling is fun, expensive, looks nice and makes your computer heavier so burglars are less likely to steal it.

WJA96 · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:01

Monkey Puzzle said:
...and makes your computer heavier so burglars are less likely to steal it.

And that's about the only practical thing about it

cooljimy84 · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:04

any thing dangerous is sexy...

water cooling can take up extra space, but when i'm just browseing the inter-ma-web i turn my fans to min and there is nothing much apart from the hard disk and the psu making nosie......

also it's super sexy, and the bragging rights that ** PC is water cooled.....

I made the switch 3-4 years ago and now every thing apart from my file server is water cooled ( yes even my amp for my speakers )

but u do have to buy a good kit and maintine it well

it's good for clocking and showing off......

Monkey Puzzle · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:08

cooljimy84 said:
any thing dangerous is sexy...

O rly?

V|per · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:13

mrdbristol said:
Watercooling is sexy

/ Thread

^^ winner!

WJA96 said:
What it's really about is the look on people's faces when you tell them your PC is so powerful, it needs to be water cooled - and then it's about fielding all those questions about electricity and water

^^ also a winner!

Crashgate3 said:
People have mentioned that the HDDs are the noisiest part of a WC rig - how effetive are the HD silencers/coolers that fit in a 5.25" bay?

Things like this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...lman ZM-2HC2 Silent Hard Disk Heatpipe Cooler

I've never actually used one, but there aer many ways of making your hdd's quieter, i suppose you have just picked the easiest, but you could always bungy mod them, no vibrations sent through the case that way.

But the main pros:

Looks awesome, generally quieter (can get some very quiet good performing air these days...), Cooler (if you setup a decent system anyway...), generally allows for greater clocks. Plus it's really fun getting stuck into a good old water cooling build =)

Monkey Puzzle said:
Watercooling is fun, expensive, looks nice and makes your computer heavier so burglars are less likely to steal it.

^^^ LOL =D

shadowscotland · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:31

Crashgate3 said:
People have mentioned that the HDDs are the noisiest part of a WC rig - how effetive are the HD silencers/coolers that fit in a 5.25" bay?

Things like this

this is the daddy for having quiet moveing HHD.

Bungee cradles are best antivibration silencers (should cost no more that £3 max and some of your time)

Solid state if you have the money is better.

Passive water cooling is slience but expensive.
Both active air and water can be very quiet, if done right.

For the same dB watercool will give better temps.

Good air cooling is all you ever need - but most always WANT more (in my case, I WANT less noise)

1kiwi · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:39

Watercooling is totally awesome. Nuff said. F($*& logic.

Breezy · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:53

watercooling is awesome, if you intend to overclock. Gfx will be a good choice to do as well but it isnt cheap tbh. A good loop for the cpu will set you back about £100 if not more, gfx blocks are expensive to but it looks sexy afterwards

Monkey Puzzle · 11 Jul 2008 at 13:58

Breezy said:
watercooling is awesome, if you intend to overclock. Gfx will be a good choice to do as well but it isnt cheap tbh. A good loop for the cpu will set you back about £100 if not more, gfx blocks are expensive to but it looks sexy afterwards

You don't need to get a full-cover GFX block. GPU only blocks are cheaper and can be used on new cards. I also find I don't ruin graphics cards with GPU only blocks.

Breezy · 11 Jul 2008 at 14:08

Monkey Puzzle said:
You don't need to get a full-cover GFX block. GPU only blocks are cheaper and can be used on new cards. I also find I don't ruin graphics cards with GPU only blocks.

Yeh very true tbh but i like the ful cover blocks, they look sexy as . Plus you dont always have to watercool the gfx, some people leave theres on air